Archives

Cosmetic Psychopharmacology: The Ethics of Antidepressant Therapy

Fareed B. Kamar

ABSTRACT

Antidepressant medication, a commonly prescribed antidote for the depressed mood, continues to prove its value in primary and psychiatric health care. Its popularity in society requires its administrators and users to reflect on its function not only as a mood enhancer, but also as a modifier of the human self. Inspired by Peter Kramer’s Listening to Prozac, this commentary on psychological materialism discusses the ethics of antidepressant therapy in the context of the idea of cosmetic psychopharmacology, the psychotherapeutic alternative, and the antidepressant placebo effect.